*Transportation and accommodation will be at youth’s expense. Parishes and Regional Deaneries are encouraged to begin fundraising right away. Please contact Deanna for further information.

Recent News from our Youth Coordinator:

Leaves and snow have started to fall. Routines and programs have begun. Please consider investing in youth in your parish this fall. Deanna is here to help, support, mentor and encourage. You are more than welcome to invite Deanna to your parish. She would be more than happy to add youth leaders from your parish to our diocesan youth leader Facebook group.

Look what is happening with Youth Ministry in the Diocese of the Arctic:

St Aidan’s in Baker Lake, NU now has a weekly youth service and a weekly youth group.

St Jude’s Cathedral in Iqaluit, NU is hoping to start a youth group this fall

Transfiguration in Tasiujaq, QC is hoping to continue with their youth dance group

St Timothy’s in Pond Inlet, NU has weekly youth services and a very active and involved youth committee

St Matthew’s in Puvirnituq, NU is hoping to start a youth Bible study this fall

Good Shepherd in Taloyoak, NU has a youth committee, hosts bi-monthly youth events and is hoping to start having youth services once a month. This past spring they hosted the first annual Kitikmeot youth revival

Messiah in Gjoa Haven, NU has a youth committee, weekly youth services and is hoping to host the second annual Kitikmeot youth revival

(If you have news to share regarding youth ministry, we want to hear from you. Please contact Deanna.)

Set a time and place to meet and be there even if only one or two young people show up. Don’t cancel or the young people will never know if it is really going to be happening. Keep at it even if you are few in numbers.

Don’t mix age groups.

Have a separate group for younger teens and another group for older teens. The older teens will not want to come out if there are kids a lot young than them there.

A catchy name.

Try to come up with an interesting name for your group. This will help to spread the word about the group.

Start as you mean to go on.

Therefore begin by including a Biblical teaching part to your evening’s right from the beginning of your program. It doesn’t have to be long, but be consistent about setting aside time in the evening to study God’s Word and to pray together.

Be available.

Try to make yourself available to the teens in your community if they need to talk to you. Let them know that you are there to listen to them and then if they approach you try and take the time to listen to them. If you are not able to talk to them at that moment tell them that and set a time when you are able to talk.

Fun activities.

There are many youth ministry resource book available which have excellent ideas for programs and games to play with the teens. Order a few books and use the ideas in them. The more you put into the programs the more you will get out of them.

Just do it.

Don’t wait until you have enough teens or until you think the timing is just right. You will never have what you think is enough and there will always be one more reason not to start. Just start with what you have today and see how things unfold.

Be creative.

Maybe a traditional youth group is not realistic for your community. So why not try an all girls program on Sunday mornings or a sewing group on a weekday after school. Or maybe you have access to the school gym or recreation centre and you can have a sports drop-in with a short ‘God-talk’ at the end. Do whatever works in your community as a way to gather teens together.

Those without vision will perish.

Have a sense of vision and purpose for your ministry. Know why you are doing this ministry and always stay focused on that.

10 Have fun.

In all that you do make sure to have fun, laugh a lot and enjoy the young people who have chosen to spend time with you.